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Critical Reasoning - Useful to Evaluate Questions of Critical Reasoning - II Module

Here are the ten official questions which are discussed in detail in the Critical Reasoning - II module at the end of the Useful to Evaluate Questions section. Shout out in the comments section if you have any doubts in the explanations.

 

Useful to Evaluate Question No. 1

 

Columnist: People should avoid using a certain artificial fat that has been touted as a resource for those whose medical advisers have advised them to reduce their fat intake. Although the artificial fat, which can be used in place of fat in food preparation, has none of the negative health effects of fat, it does have a serious drawback: it absorbs certain essential vitamins, thereby preventing them from being used by the body.

 

In evaluating the columnist's position, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?

 

(A) Whether increasing one's intake of the vitamins can compensate for the effects of the artificial fat

 

(B) Whether the vitamins that the artificial fat absorbs are present in foods that contain the fat

 

(C) Whether having an extremely low fat intake for an extended period can endanger the health

 

(D) Whether there are any foods that cannot be prepared using the artificial fat as a substitute for other fats

 

(E) Whether people are generally able to detect differences in taste between foods prepared using the artificial fat and foods that are similar except for the use of other fats

 

Useful to Evaluate Question No. 2

 

The emission of sulfur dioxide when high-sulfur coal is burned is restricted by law. New coal-burning plants usually comply with the law by installing expensive equipment to filter sulfur dioxide from their emissions. These new plants could save money by installing instead less expensive cleaning equipment that chemically removes most sulfur from coal before combustion.

 

Which of the following, if known, would be most relevant to evaluating the claim above about how new coal-burning plants could save money?

 

(A) Whether existing oil-burning plants are required to filter sulfur dioxide from their emissions

 

(B) Whether the expense of installing the cleaning equipment in a new plant is less than the expense of installing the cleaning equipment in an older plant

 

(C) Whether the process of cleaning the coal is more expensive than the process of filtering the emissions

 

(D) Whether lawful emissions of sulfur dioxide from coal-burning plants are damaging the environment

 

(E) Whether existing plants that use the filtering equipment could replace this equipment with the cleaning equipment and still compete with new plants that install the cleaning equipment

 

Useful to Evaluate Question No. 3

 

Capuchin monkeys in Venezuela often rub a certain type of millipede into their fur. Secretions of these millipedes have been shown to contain two chemicals that are potent mosquito repellents, and mosquitoes carry parasites that debilitate the capuchins. The rubbing behavior is rare except during the rainy season, when mosquito populations are at their peak. Therefore monkeys probably rub millipedes into their fur only because doing so helps protect them against mosquitoes. 

 

Which of the following would be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument? 

 

(A) Whether the two chemicals provide any protection for millipedes against their own predators 

 

(B) Whether the type of millipede used by the capuchin monkeys in Venezuela is found in other parts of the world

 

(C) Whether animals other than capuchins rub insects of any kind into their fur 

 

(D) Whether the only time millipedes are readily available to capuchins is during rainy season 

 

(E) Whether secretions of any other insects accessible to capuchins contain chemicals that repel the mosquitoes

 

Useful to Evaluate Question No. 4

 

Last August the XT chain of gasoline stations had a temporary sales promotion in effect. In the promotion, any customer who made a purchase of ten or more gallons of gasoline was entitled to a free car wash. For the month of August, XT experienced a ten percent increase in gasoline sales as compared to sales in August the previous year, so evidently the promotion was successful as a means of boosting sales. 

 

In evaluating the argument, it would be most helpful to answer which of the following? 

 

(A) In the areas in which XT’s gasoline stations operate, how did total combined gasoline sales for all gasoline stations last August compare with sales for the previous August? 

 

(B) Was the money that XT earned from the increase in gasoline sales enough to offset the cost of providing free car washes during the promotion? 

 

(C) Were there any customers who bought ten or more gallons at an XT gasoline station during the promotion who would have bought gasoline at the same station in lower quantities, but more frequently, if the promotion had not been in effect? 

 

(D) Did XT or any of its gasoline stations have to pay other businesses to provide the car washes that customers were offered in the promotion? 

 

(E) Are XT’s gasoline sales in August usually significantly higher than one twelfth of XT’s annual gasoline sales?

 

Useful to Evaluate Question No. 5

 

Fish currently costs about the same at seafood stores throughout Eastville and its surrounding suburbs. Seafood stores buy fish from the same wholesalers and at the same prices, and other business expenses have also been about the same. But new tax breaks will substantially lower the cost of doing business within the city. Therefore, in the future, profit margins will be higher at seafood stores within the city than at suburban seafood stores.

 

For the purposes of evaluating the argument, it would be most useful to know whether

 

(A) More fish wholesalers are located within the city than in the surrounding suburbs

 

(B) Any people who currently own seafood stores in the suburbs surrounding Eastville will relocate their businesses nearer to the city

 

(C) The wholesale price of fish is likely to fall in the future

 

(D) Fish has always cost about the same at seafood stores throughout Eastville and its surrounding suburbs

 

(E) Seafood stores within the city will in the future set prices that are lower than those at suburban seafood stores

 

Useful to Evaluate Question No. 6

 

Urban air contains more sulfur dioxide than does rural air, and plants in cities typically grow more slowly than do plants in rural areas. In an experiment to see how much of the difference in growth is due to sulfur dioxide, classes in an urban and a rural school grew plants in greenhouse at their schools and filtered the greenhouse air to eliminate sulfur dioxide. Plants in the urban greenhouse grew more slowly than those in the rural greenhouse.

 

Which of the following, if true, would it be most important to take into account in evaluating the result?

 

(A) The urban school was located in a part of the city in which levels of sulfur dioxide in the air were usually far lower than is typical for urban areas.

 

(B) At both schools, the plants in the greenhouses grew much more quickly than did plants planted outdoors in plots near the greenhouse.

 

(C) The urban class conducting the experiment was larger than the rural class conducting the experiment.

 

(D) Heavy vehicular traffic such as is found in cities constantly deposits grime on greenhouse windows, reducing the amount of light that reaches the plants inside.

 

(E) Because of the higher levels of sulfur dioxide in the air at the urban school, the air filters for the urban school’s greenhouse were changed more frequently than were those at the rural school.

 

Useful to Evaluate Question No. 7

 

It is illegal to advertise prescription medications in Hedland except directly to physicians, either by mail or in medical journals. A proposed law would allow general advertising of prescription medications. Opponents object that the general population lacks the specialized knowledge to evaluate such advertisements and might ask their physicians for inappropriate medications. But since physicians have the final say as to whether to prescribe a medication for a patient, inappropriate prescriptions would not become more common.

 

Which of the following would it be most useful to establish in order to evaluate the argument?

 

(A) Whether advertising for prescription medications might alert patients to the existence of effective treatments for minor ailments that they had previously thought to be untreatable

 

(B) Whether some people might go to a physician for no reason other than ask for a particular medication they have seen advertised

 

(C) Whether the proposed law requires prescription-medication advertisements directed to the general public to provide the same information as do advertisements directed to physicians.

 

(D) Whether advertisements for prescription medications are currently an important source of information about newly available medications for physicians

 

(E) Whether physicians would give in to a patient's demands for a prescription medication chosen by the patient when the one originally prescribed by the physician fails to perform as desired.

 

Useful to Evaluate Question No. 8

 

Trancorp currently transports all its goods to Burland Island by truck. The only bridge over the channel separating Burland from the mainland is congested, and trucks typically spend hours in traffic. Trains can reach the channel more quickly than trucks, and freight cars can be transported to Burland by barges that typically cross the channel in an hour. Therefore, to reduce shipping time, Trancorp plans to switch to trains and barges to transport goods to Burland. 

 

Which of the following would be most important to know in determining whether Trancorp’s plan, if implemented, is likely to achieve its goal?

 

(A) Whether transportation by train and barge would be substantially less expensive than transportation by truck

 

(B) Whether there are boats that can make the trip between the mainland and Burland faster than barges can 

 

(C) Whether loading the freight cars onto barges is very time consuming

 

(D) Whether the average number of vehicles traveling over the bridge into Burland has been relatively constant in recent years

 

(E) Whether most trucks transporting goods into Burland return to the mainland empty

 

Useful to Evaluate Question No. 9

 

Manager: Although our corporation lists office rules in an orientation booklet, few employees read the booklet carefully enough to familiarize themselves with all the rules. Lecturing employees for inadvertent rule violations often makes them resentful and less cooperative. Thus, to improve employee adherence to office rules, we plan to issue gentle reminders about various rules in each issue of our weekly newsletter. 

 

Which of the following would it be most helpful to discover about the employees in the corporation in order to evaluate the likelihood that the plan will succeed? 

 

(A) Whether most of them who are lectured for inadvertent rule violations are deterred from violating the same rule again

 

(B) Whether most of them who inadvertently violate office rules already feel resentful and uncooperative

 

(C) Whether most of them violate at least some office rules with which they are familiar

 

(D) Whether most of them who regularly read the weekly newsletter are familiar with at least some office rules

 

(E) Whether most of them would usually read with sufficient care the portions of the weekly newsletter that are reminders of rules

 

Useful to Evaluate Question No. 10

 

Goronian lawmaker: Goronia's Cheese Importation Board, the agency responsible for inspecting all wholesale shipments of cheese entering Goronia from abroad and rejecting shipments that fail to meet specified standards, rejects about one percent of the cheese that it inspects. Since the health consequences and associated costs of not rejecting that one percent would be negligible, whereas the cost of maintaining the agency is not, the agency's cost clearly outweighs the benefits it provides.

 

Knowing the answer to which of the following would be most useful in evaluating the lawmaker's argument?

 

(A) Are any of the types of cheeses that are imported into Goronia also produced in Goronia?

 

(B) Has the Cheese Importation Board, over the last several years, reduced its operating costs by eliminating inefficiencies within the agency itself?

 

(C) Does the possibility of having merchandise rejected by the Cheese Importation Board deter many cheese exporters from shipping substandard cheese to Goronia?

 

(D) Are there any exporters of cheese to Goronia whose merchandise is never rejected by the Cheese Importation Board?

 

(E) How is the cheese rejected by the Cheese Importation Board disposed of?

 

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